Cicero: Factory original? No, but this recipe's close

I love the stuffed mushrooms at Cheesecake Factory. Do you have the recipe? Thank you.

- Sarah

The Cheesecake Factory does not share its trade-secret recipes, but I love trying to come close to a restaurant's recipes. We know there's Parmesan, Fontina and wine. The rest is a guess, but I think you'll find these well worth the effort. You can use any size mushroom or even upgrade to Portobello, but these work fine with ordinary button mushrooms.

1 pound large button mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 green onions, minced

3/4 cup sherry or white wine, divided

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated Fontina cheese, divided

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse mushrooms well, pat dry and remove stems. Reserve stems. Use a pastry brush to coat mushroom tops all over with olive oil; place in a shallow baking pan just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Finely chop the stems and set aside.

Place any remaining olive oil with the butter in a heavy skillet and melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic and green onions until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add mushroom stems and cook a minute more.

Turn off heat, stir in 1/4 cup of the wine, the lemon juice and bread crumbs; toss with 2 forks to mix well. Stir in the Parmesan and half the Fontina. Mixture should be moist enough to stick together; add more wine if needed.

Spoon filling into mushroom caps. Top with remaining Fontina. Pour remaining wine over the mushrooms (it will run off to make a sauce). Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or cheese melts and mushrooms are cooked through. Spoon pan liquid over mushrooms and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Looking for a light lunch or an appetizer alternative to bruschetta? Try the recipe for aromatic eggplant timbale kindly shared by chef Mariano Gravante of Tagliatelle in Miami Beach. It takes minutes to prepare, especially if you use purchased pesto.

1 medium eggplant, about 11/4 pounds

About 1 teaspoon olive oil

4 ounces goat cheese, softened

4 sun dried tomatoes, minced

4 roasted red peppers, minced

4 tablespoons basil pesto

4 ounces (about 1/2 cup) grated Romano cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice eggplant into 8 rounds about 1/3-inch thick (reserve any remaining eggplant for another use). Salt lightly. Place 4 rounds on baking sheet

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